(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an insulator-combining apparatus for assembling a connector for use in a wiring harness by laminating insulators.
(2) Description of the Related Art
A motor vehicle as a mobile unit is provided with a wiring harness for transmitting electric power from an electric source such as a battery to electronic equipment such as various lamps and motors to be mounted on the motor vehicle. The wiring harness includes a plurality of electric wires, a plurality of terminals attached to respective electric wires, and a connector housing which receives the terminals. The connector housing and a plurality of the terminals constitute a connector. In general, the wiring harness includes a plurality of the connectors.
Recently, since the number of the electronic equipment to be mounted on a motor vehicle is increasing, therefore as for the wiring harness described above, a plurality of subharnesses each assigned to respective functions of the electronic equipment are once constructed and then, these subharnesses are assembled into the wiring harness. That is, the number of the electronic equipment to be mounted on a motor vehicle is increasing, it causes a problem that the assembling of the subharnesses becomes complicated, the workability of the assembling is deteriorated, and the quality of the product is unstable when things come to the worst.
Therefore, in order to facilitate the assembling of the subharnesses, a connector has been used, in which crimp terminals as the terminals and insulators for holding and attaching the crimp terminals in a lined-up form are used, and the insulators are laminated so as to construct the connector. An apparatus for combining the insulators in such a connector is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-345157.
The apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-345157 includes: a holding jig having holders for holding a predetermined desired insulators, said holders approaching and leaving each other; a detecting jig for detecting whether or not the predetermined desired insulators are held by the respective holders; a pressing unit for causing the holders to approach each other so as to assemble the insulators; and a control device which prevents the pressing unit from causing the holders to approach each other when the detecting jig detects that at least one holder does not hold the respective desired insulator and permits the pressing unit to cause the holders to approach each other when the detecting jig detects that all the holders hold the respective desired insulators.
Therefore, according to the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent. Application Laid-Open No. 2001-345157, the desired insulators are attached on the respective holders and the detecting jig detects that all the holders attach the respective desired insulators and thereafter, the pressing unit causes the holders to approach each other so as to combine the insulators, thereby constructing the connector.
According to the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-345157, the detecting jig is attached to the holding jig and a switch pin of the detecting jig is turned on from turned-off, so that the detecting jig detects that the desired insulators are attached on the respective holders. Since the apparatus detects whether or not the desired insulators are attached on the respective holders by an electrical means such as turning-on and turning-off of the switch pin, therefore depending on aging such as abrasion of the detecting jig and the holding jig and on a manner of setting of the detecting jig to the holding jig, there has been a possibility that even when at least one holder holds the undesired insulator, the switch pin is turned on when the detecting jig is attached to the holding jig. That is, the apparatus has a problem that the apparatus possibly mistakenly detects whether or not the predetermined desired insulators are held by the respective holders. In other words, the apparatus has a problem that the apparatus possibly incorrectly detects whether or not the insulators are lined up in a predetermined sequence.